David L. Feldman

Taking the “Waste” Out of “Wastewater” for Human Water Security and Ecosystem Sustainability

Humans create vast quantities of wastewater through inefficiencies and poor management of water systems. The wasting of water poses sustainability challenges, depletes energy reserves, and undermines human water security and ecosystem health. Here we review emerging approaches for reusing wastewater and minimizing its generation. These complementary options make the most of scarce freshwater resources, serve the varying water needs of both developed and developing countries, and confer a variety of environmental benefits. Their widespread adoption will require changing how freshwater is sourced, used, managed, and priced.

Making Science Useful to Decision Makers: Climate Forecasts, Water Management, and Knowledge Networks

Moving from climate science to adaptive action is an immense challenge, especially in highly institutionalized sectors such aswater resources. Knowledgenetworksare valuablestrategiesto put climateinformation to use. They overcome barriers to information adoption such as stovepipes, pipelines, and restricted decision space, and they can be responsive to issues of salience and the hurdles of reliability, credibility, and trust. Collaboration and adaptive management efforts among resource managers and forecast producers with differing missions show that mutual learning informed by climate information can occur among scientists of different disciplinary backgrounds and between scientists and water managers. The authors show how, through construction of knowledge networks and their institutionalization through boundary organizations focused on salient problems, climate information can positively affect water resources decision making.

Australia's Drought: Lessons for California

COMMENTARY Refl ective scientifi c treatises Strengthening citizen science LETTERS I BOOKS I POLICY FORUM I EDUCATION FORUM I PERSPECTIVES LETTERS edited by Jennifer Sills 28 MARCH 2014 sumptive activities—such as daytime lawn watering and car washing—to rules promot- ing efficient water use—such as require- ments for shutoff valves on hoses. Out of those temporary restrictions, permanent restrictions grew. Some areas in Australia still restrict daytime sprinkler use. Perhaps most relevant for worried Californians is how the Australian public received these changes. Studies cite an overall spirit of goodwill and cooperation fostered by the stress of drought (6). The Millennium Drought brought about profound changes in Australians’ concep- tion of the environment, climate change, and water. The sticking power of those les- sons and the success of the resulting policies and strategies will be tested by the next big drought. One lesson California can glean from the Australian experience is empower- ment. Individuals making frugal water deci- sions can make a big difference in urban areas. Water markets and other measures that increase the fl exibility of irrigation farmers in their response to drought can have big payoffs. Sustaining critical environmental water requirements will provide the basis for postdrought environmental recovery. A spirit of cooperation rather than contention can prevail even when tough decisions are made to address the needs of farmers and city residents. AMIR AGHAKOUCHAK, 1 * DAVID FELDMAN, 1 MICHAEL J. STEWARDSON, 2 JEAN-DANIEL SAPHORES, 1 STANLEY GRANT, 1,2 BRETT SANDERS 1 The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. 2 Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. *Corresponding author. E-mail: amir.a@uci.edu References 1. A. I. Dijk et al., Water Resources Res. 49, 1040 (2013). 2. Z. Hao et al., Sci. Data 1, 1 (2014). 3. S. Dolnicar, A. I. Schafer, J. Environ. Manage. 90, 888 VOL 343 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org Published by AAAS Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on March 27, 2014 MOST OF CALIFORNIA IS SUFFERING FROM AN extreme drought, and storage levels in the major reservoirs are well below historic lev- els. For the past several months, an unusually stubborn ridge of high pressure off the West Coast of the United States has been blocking normal winter storms and the rain they carry. California’s history of drought has led to state- wide strategies to save water, but Californian residents and policy-makers can do even more: They can look to the story of Australia’s experi- ence with a drought so intense and long-lasting that it was dramatically dubbed the Millennium Drought (1). The Millennium Drought lasted from 1997 until late 2009 (2). Australia’s economy and environment were hit hard. The drought accel- erated the same trends facing farmers in devel- oping countries worldwide: Small farms were squeezed out. Midsized farms were most vul- nerable because they could neither achieve the economies of scale available to larger produc- ers nor buffer losses with off-farm employ- ment like the smallest farms could. Amazingly, despite blows to crop yields and Dried out. As of February 2014, most of California is in Extreme to Exceptional Drought (see red and livestock numbers, Australia’s rate of growth in dark red areas on map). agricultural production has quickly returned to predrought trends. The impacts of this major drought on irrigation communities were buffered by some critical water reforms. These included: (i) well-developed water markets that allowed water trade to farmers in the greatest need; (ii) modernization of irrigation infrastructure that increased the effi ciency of water delivery; and (iii) establishment of clear water entitlements for the environment that protected critical refuge habitats and populations as water availability declined. The use of water markets was particularly critical. More than 40% of annual water alloca- tions were traded at the height of the drought in 2007. For example, increased water prices allowed dairy farmers to sell their allocation and purchase fodder with the proceeds rather than irrigate pasture. Fruit growers and other producers who needed to maintain irrigation through- out the drought could purchase the dairy farmers’ water to keep their operations viable. In urban areas, strategies to increase supply and decrease demand were brought to bear. Expensive desalination and water recycling plants were built. Australians were more comfort- able with the desalinated water (3, 4), despite the recycled water’s safety and the desalination plants’ greater cost and large carbon and environmental footprints (4). Between 2002 and 2009, per capita municipal water use in southeast Australia decreased by nearly 50% (5). Water use restrictions ranged from outright bans of conspicuously con- CREDIT: DATA FROM THE GLOBAL INTEGRATED DROUGHT MONITORING AND PREDICTION SYSTEM (GIDMAPS) (2) Australia’s Drought: Lessons for California

Barriers to Adaptive Management: Lessons from the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint Compact

Adaptive management advocates contend that resource decisions should be made and modified as a function of what scientists and resource managers learn about natural systems. Decisions should be modest in scope, scientifically sound, and reversible. Implementing adaptive practices requires that stakeholders adopt resource management arrangements that permit learning from mistakes, monitoring, mid-course changes, and reaching consensus on future actions. This article examines these challenges in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint (ACF) River Basin Compact formed in 1997 to forge a water allocation formula for Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Through a literature review and analysis of key events, we find that efforts to agree on an allocation formula have failed because preconditions needed for adaptively managing the ACF basin are impeded by lack of a shared vision and conflicting demands, and separation of water quality and quantity regulations. These problems exist in other water disputes and highlight limitations in implementing adaptive management practices.

Increased nuisance flooding along the coasts of the United States due to sea level rise: Past and future

Author(s): Moftakhari, HR; AghaKouchak, A; Sanders, BF; Feldman, DL; Sweet, W; Matthew, RA; Luke, A | Abstract:

Evaluating options for Balancing the Water-Electricity Nexus in California: Part 1 - Securing Water Availability

The technical potential and effectiveness of different water supply options for securing water availability in a large-scale, interconnected water supply system under historical and climate-change augmented inflow and demand conditions were compared. Part 1 of the study focused on determining the scale of the options required to secure water availability and compared the effectiveness of different options. A spatially and temporally resolved model of Californias major surface reservoirs was developed, and its sensitivity to urban water conservation, desalination, and water reuse was examined. Potential capacities of the different options were determined. Under historical (baseline) hydrology conditions, many individual options were found to be capable of securing water availability alone. Under climate change augment conditions, a portfolio approach was necessary. The water savings from many individual options other than desalination were insufficient in the latter, however, relying on seawater desalination alone requires extreme capacity installations which have energy, brine disposal, management, and cost implications. The importance of identifying and utilizing points of leverage in the system for choosing where to deploy different options is also demonstrated.

Non-spatial government

Abstract This article explores the evolution of government. Facilitated by advances in telecommunications and information technology, governments of the future may become specialized by function. One type of government will be non-spatial in essence and will be populated by people who share a strong affinity with each other, but not necessarily common spatial boundaries. A second type of government will necessarily be spatial and will be responsible for infrastructure. Another two types of governments will have enforcement and coordination responsibilities, respectively. A theory of government based on interpersonal transactions of obligations and a brief historical review of the evolution of government provide the foundation for these prognostications. The article concludes with a discussion about how different types of government functions (eg education, healthcare, defence, police protection) could be performed by this four-part government structure. The ideas presented here could be used to help reduce violent conflicts around the world among peoples who, it is believed, cannot coexist with each other within arbitrarily drawn spatial boundaries.

Evaluating options for balancing the water-electricity nexus in California: Part 2—Greenhouse gas and renewable energy utilization impacts

A study was conducted to compare the technical potential and effectiveness of different water supply options for securing water availability in a large-scale, interconnected water supply system under historical and climate-change augmented inflow and demand conditions. Part 2 of the study focused on determining the greenhouse gas and renewable energy utilization impacts of different pathways to stabilize major surface reservoir levels. Using a detailed electric grid model and taking into account impacts on the operation of the water supply infrastructure, the greenhouse gas emissions and effect on overall grid renewable penetration level was calculated for each water supply option portfolio that successfully secured water availability from Part 1. The effects on the energy signature of water supply infrastructure were found to be just as important as that of the fundamental processes for each option. Under historical (baseline) conditions, many option portfolios were capable of securing surface reservoir levels with a net neutral or negative effect on emissions and a benefit for renewable energy utilization. Under climate change augmented conditions, however, careful selection of the water supply option portfolio was required to prevent imposing major emissions increases for the system. Overall, this analysis provided quantitative insight into the tradeoffs associated with choosing different pathways for securing Californias water supply.

Tennessee's Inter-Basin Water Transfer act : a changing water policy agenda

The Inter-Basin Water Transfer Act requires Tennessees public water providers whose rights are secured by eminent domain to acquire a permit for surface or groundwater withdrawals that are diverted outside their basin of origin and may adversely affect surface water flow. It bolsters rights of riparian users, regulates water quantities diverted and returned, and mandates consideration of alternatives to diversion. Public providers must register annual withdrawals and the state can protect deficit-ridden areas. I analyze the evolution of this novel law; the role of in-state and external threats reflecting larger regional trends in its passage; the role of a University research group, other stakeholders, and legislative negotiations in its passage; and the Acts lessons and significance for the future of American water policy. I conclude that the Act represents an important policy agenda change in response to perceived threats and new information on the vulnerability of the states water.

The politics of environmental policy in Russia

Contents: 1. Civil Society, Environment, and Russian Politics Post-1991 2. Russias Environmental Challenges and their Management 3. Environmental Civil Society through Russian Eyes: Stakeholder Views 4. Case Studies and their Insights into Civil Society Growth: Chelyabinsk, Lake Baikal, and Genetically Modified Food 5. Interpreting Civil Society: Challenges, Change, and Environmental Significance 6. Conclusions: The Bas, the Good, and the Uncertain References